The present invention relates to firearms and more particularly to a safety apparatus for rendering firearms inoperative in the hands of small children.
While it is accepted firearm safety practice to render firearms inoperative during periods of transportation and storage, there are instances when handguns, in particular, must be available for immediate use for homestead protection, for example. In such instances, small children may well have access to such firearms.
Although there have been many safety devices designed to effectively disable firearms and thereby render the firearms safe from unauthorized use, these devices have certain limitations which the present invention is designed to ovrcome.
Exemplary of the prior art is a device illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,513,267 entitled SAFETY GUARD and issued on Oct. 28, 1924 to Parks. The device of the patent to Parks includes a hinged guard which is adapted to be locked in surrounding relation in respect of the hammer and trigger assembly of the firearm. The Parks device must be locked in place and therefore, the associated firearm may not be readily and rapidly rendered operative. Manifestly, removal problems are somewhat further complicated in the event the associated key is misplaced or lost.
Another prior art device for rendering a firearm temporarily inoperative is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,318 entitled SAFETY STRAP FOR HANDGUNS issued on July 12, 1983 to Daniels. The Daniels' device includes a safety strap which is designed to surround a portion of the body of a handgun to maintain the hammer in a cocked position. While in the snapped position, the strap effectively renders the associated handgun inoperative. Still another prior art device for rendering a firearm temporarily inoperative is the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,676 entitled FIREARM SAFETY APPARATUS issued on Feb. 24, 1987 to Stern. The Stern invention includes a band of flexible material wrapped around the trigger guard, trigger, and breech of the firearm. One end of the band is detachably coupled to the other, securing the band in place to prevent inadvertent contact with the trigger of the firearm.
While the above illustrated and described devices are effective to temporarily render a firearm inoperative, in each instance an unsupervised child could disengage the safety mechanism thereby rendering the firearm in fully operative condition.
It is therefore an object of the present invention is to produce a safety apparatus for firearms which will selectively, as well as effectively, render a firearm inoperative and which, in turn, may be removed from the firearm with facility by adults but which is not removable by small children.